Ronaldo responds to model’s rape claim

Ronaldo responds to model’s rape claim

CRISTIANO Ronaldo has categorically denied accusations by a former model who says the soccer star raped her in a Las Vegas hotel penthouse suite in 2009.

"I firmly deny the accusations being issued against me," tweeted the 33-year-old, who plays for Juventus in Italy's Serie A.

"Rape is an abominable crime that goes against everything that I am and believe in."

"My clear conscious (sic) will thereby allow me to await with tranquillity the results of any and all investigations," he added.

A lawyer for the woman alleging Ronaldo raped her in Las Vegas in 2009 said her client was "emotionally fragile" and had agreed to an out-of-court settlement nine years ago because she never wanted her name made public.

Kathryn Mayorga was out of the US and not speaking to media about the lawsuit she filed last week seeking monetary damages from Ronaldo, lawyer Larissa Drohobyczer said.

"She's not going to be interviewed," the lawyer said.

Kathryn Mayorga has accused Ronaldo of raping her.

"At this time she's emotionally fragile."

The civil lawsuit filed in state court in Las Vegas alleges Ronaldo raped Mayorga, who was then 24, in his penthouse suite at a Las Vegas hotel and hired a team of what the document called "fixers" to shape the monetary settlement, obstruct a police criminal investigation and trick Mayorga into taking $US375,000 to keep quiet.

In an Instagram video posted hours after the suit was filed, Ronaldo appeared to deny the allegations.

Cristiano Ronaldo denies the accusation.

"Fake. Fake news," said the five-time world player of the year.

"You want to promote by my name. It's normal. They want to be famous, to say my name. But it is part of the job. I am a happy man and all good."

Cristiano Ronaldo in a Giorgio Armani ad. Picture: AP

Drohobyczer said her client also was influenced in recent months by the #MeToo movement of women making public allegations of prior sexual assault.

Mayorga met Ronaldo at a nightclub, according to the lawsuit, and went with him and other people to his suite, where the alleged attack took place in a bedroom.